


'tis the damn season

by Zephyrcove



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, LEGO Harry Potter (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Canon Compliant, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Holidays, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28045284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zephyrcove/pseuds/Zephyrcove
Summary: HP Christmas one-shots because we all need a dose of holiday serotonin and I have the drive to write mindless, cheery fluff :)you can find me at @jilyismyeverything on tumblr to submit holiday fluff prompts and such, or to chat!title from Taylor Swift's 'evermore' album because I'm obsessed with her
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	'tis the damn season

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title and dedication from C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

The serenely snowy cobblestone streets are about the only thing that makes a winter stuck in Cokeworth bearable. They give the otherwise dreary city a sort of fantastical edge, as though any corner you turned could lead to a hidden door, a secret tunnel to a new and more exciting place. As Lily went up the steps to the small library where she was working part-time, she took an extra moment to glance back at the frosted courtyard, sighing wistfully as headed in.

Inside the old building, Lily strolled through the wood-paneled hallways and clocked in, waving off Marjorie––the petite, older woman on the shift before hers––as she gathered up her knitting from behind the desk and shrugged on her woolen overcoat. Situated in the center of the front wall, the curved, wooden desktop gave her purview of the mahogany tabletops and hand-carved stacks of her hometown library. A few patrons milled about, watching as their toddlers, still bundled up in their bright puffers, raced towards the colorful rug of the children's section and several people around Lily’s age sat hunched by green desk lamps, their furrowed brows cast in a grinch-like glow.

In the contentedness of her favorite place in this godforsaken town, Lily could almost forget what had brought her home; thoughts of her fading mother confined to the couch and carried up and downstairs by her aging father just barely usurped by the childlike happiness of a bookworm-at-heart returning to her roots. 

Settling into the leather chair behind the info desk, she clicked a tab on the ancient desktop monitor and tugged the cart of go-backs over to her side. The peaceful quiet of the library was interrupted by the archaic tone of the handheld scanner as she processed each return, but she soon fell into a mindless rhythm, passing book after weathered book over her table. 

Until the plasticized cover of the last book on the cart broke her pattern and her breath caught in her throat. Staring back at her was the delicate illustration of her favorite memory: a worn, green hardback copy of C.S. Lewis’ ‘ _The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe’_. Her thoughts were drawn to the old copy she’d had growing up, pages worn with endless re-readings, and the memory of her mother reading aloud to her two daughters, tucking them into her side and stroking soft red and blonde hair behind their ears. 

The weight of her childhood made a home in her mind as the nostalgia and warmth of the novel seeped through her hands into her soul and flooded her senses with forgotten memories. She held onto the book, stroking the old, textured cover with her thumb as she gently nudged the bare returns cart away from her. A moment passed, the light of the monitor flickering to a dim light from disuse, and the change in lighting brought her back to the present. Blinking away the mist in her eyes, she scanned the book into the system and watched the category on-screen tick to _‘returned’_. Something kept her from dropping it onto the stack of books to be shelved though, and with a glance around the library to be sure no one was in dire need of librarian assistance, she found herself making the decision to reread it yet again, cracking the worn spine and turning to the dedication page.

> _"My Dear Lucy,_ ” (“My Dear Lily,” her mother would change it to say.)
> 
> _I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say but I shall still be_ _your affectionate Godfather"_

She smiled down at the message she’d been read time and time again and inhaled deeply, calming the emotions that were threatening her in this very public Cokeworth municipal building. 

“ _You mustn't skip a single page in a book, girls, not the title, not the dedication, not the foreword or author’s note. They all add to the story, the experience, and they would not have been written if not to be read._ ” Her mother’s words rang in her mind as she continued on to the first chapter, diving head first into the wardrobe once more.

Sometime later, about 20 minutes from the library’s closing, Lily was jolted out of her intense focus on chapter six by the _ding_ of the help bell. She carefully slid a flyer into her place in the book and looked up to see no one there. Or at least, no one until she stood and leaned over the desktop, where a young girl peered up at her, gripping the end of her frizzy, dark braid.

“Hi there,” Lily started, her best warm-and-approachable-librarian smile falling into place on her facial features.

The girl waved shyly before she straightened up, seemingly bolstering her own confidence, and spoke in a soft, intelligent voice. “I’m looking for ‘ _The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe’._ Do you have it?” 

Lily’s shoulders slumped just slightly as she glanced down at what must be the library’s only copy, her makeshift bookmark marking the discovery of Mr. Tumnus’ ransacked home. Picking up the book and fixing her smile, Lily plucked the flyer from its pages and carefully handed it to the girl. Her eyes lit up with joy and she thanked Lily before running back to her mom across the hardwood room. 

Lily checked it out to her with a sad look in her eye as the pair left, clearing out the building for the library to close for the day. Gathering her bag and her coat and beginning to shut down the computer, Lily could not stop thinking about that faded green cover and the story within it. It was one she knew backwards and forwards and yet reading it now, after so much had happened to damper her memories of it, was a brand new experience. She felt she just _had_ to keep reading it, keep rediscovering what made life so good before it all got so hard. 

Glancing at her watch, reading five o’clock, she skipped down the cobblestones to her car, eager to catch the town’s Barnes and Noble before they closed at six on this wintry Sunday.

* * *

She browsed the green and tan aisles of the modern looking bookstore for a while, window shopping for other books she might like to take home with her as she made her way to her intended purchase. In the end, she decided to stick with just _The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe_ . She checked out with a bored looking teenager whose name tag read _Eddie––_ she chuckled as she thought of the character Edmund’s own moody disposition _––_ and was turning to leave the store when she noticed the smell of coffee beans and the warm lighting of the attached Starbucks. Feeling the exhaustion of the day and her current life state, she walked the opposite direction from the door and into the coffee shop. 

Clutching her book to her chest, she stopped in line behind two other people; one a very tall man in a brimmed hat and coat and the other a quite stout woman with a small yappy dog pressed to her chest so that it caught a mouthful of her furry stole each time it turned its head to whine. Moments later, the dog lady and the mysterious gentleman had ordered and moved on and Lily found herself in front of the register facing the most gorgeous, curly haired, bespectacled boy she’d ever laid eyes on. The chalk-markered rectangle attached to his classic green apron read _James_ and a charming, crooked smile graced his symmetrical features as his mouth moved to greet her. 

“Miss?”

“Mm- Huh?” Suffice to say she had not been listening, the view being as good as it was.

“I just asked what I can get started for you today, miss.” That smile stayed on his face as he no doubt noticed her gaze and rosy cheeks.

Lily continued to blush furiously as he repeated himself. Flustered by her inattention and having been caught staring, she held the book closer to chest and stuttered out, “Er- surprise me?”

The laugh he let out was warm and syrupy and made her feel at home. He raised an eyebrow playfully before nodding and scratching his chin in a cartoonish thinking posture. She realized, belatedly, that dealer’s choice was probably not a request they often got at Starbucks and her cheeks remained warm.

“Right then. Tap your card and I’ll take it away.” The man––James––smiled to himself as she paid and he began pouring milk into a metal pitcher. She floated around the barista counter and watched curiously as he made her mystery drink. He looked up at her while the milk frothed, eyes resting on the novel she was still clutching to her sweatered chest.

“So, _The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe_ , eh?” His golden voice broke her from her thoughts and, reading his comment as condescension, she squared her shoulders and looked at him with a slight scowl.

“And? I know it’s a children’s novel but there’s no law that says–”

“Oh, no! Absolutely no judgement here!” He set her coffee-in-progress down on the metal countertop to put his hands up defensively. One of them went up to rake through his hair as he responded to her. “Er, in fact–” He reached into his deep apron pocket and pulled out a small paperback. Lily dropped her eyes to its cover and found a smile on her lips as she read the title: _Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia_.

“Reckon we’re old enough to start reading fairytales again, yeah?” The words of her mother’s favorite dedication fell from his lips and her walls came back down, her smile tugging even wider. “You can borrow it when you’re done with that one,” James shot her a wink as he returned to making her drink, seeming certain that he had redeemed himself. She watched his strong forearms going through the motions and a minute later he was down at the pickup counter waving her over to him.

“You know, usually I’d be able to call you by name in this scenario, but seeing as your ‘Surprise me’ order was rather unconventional I’ve forgotten to ask what yours is.” He held a sharpie in his hand and knelt to be eye level with her cup, waiting for her to offer up her name. 

“Lily.”

His lip quirked into that same warm smile as he scrawled the letters onto the cardboard. He capped the marker and stood, sliding the cup toward her. Lily picked it up and examined the whipped cream topped with chocolate curls and red candy. 

“A peppermint mocha,” James supplied. “Seemed like you needed both caffeine and some cheer.” She smiled and turned the cup in her hands, attempting to catch a glimpse of her name in his handwriting. Her glance was met with more than her own name though and she blushed again as she read the numbers he’d written below her name.

“Er, for when you need to borrow _Prince Caspian_.” He grinned sheepishly at her and she smiled back at him. “Or before that honestly. Any kind of chat you’d like, Narnia or no. Hope that isn’t too presumptuous of me.”

Thinking of her mother and the Pevensie’s lesson to be brave, she took a sip of the wonderfully Christmas-y coffee. Licking the whipped cream from her upper lip, she returned his smile and responded with a twinkle in her eye. “Not at all.”

As she waved and left the shop, he saluted her and Lily blushed yet again, looking down at the snowy cobblestone below her. She decided there may be more in Cokeworth worth staying for, starting with the charming barista who’s number was pressed into her hand, seeping warmth and cheer and hope through her palms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt is very much one of my dear friend’s outcomes from a facebook graphic of finding your 2020 Hallmark movie scenario!
> 
> “A sleep deprived librarian finds herself stranded in her hometown [during a pandemic lockdown], after she came home to spend time appreciating what she quickly ran away from. Against her better judgement, she falls in love with that [aloof] Starbucks barista. Together, they learn the true meaning of Christmas”
> 
> Also, I apologize for my barista-ing description, I suppose I could've asked my best friend the steps to create a peppermint mocha for an authentic Starbucks step by step, but I decided to wing it :)
> 
> Find me on tumblr @jilyismyeverything and send me more holiday prompts to write!!


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